Bible Question:
Where is God? I have been actively seeking for at least five years now. I, and my family, was recently baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I have been regularly attending church for about a year now, and spend time in the word (though not as much as I should, I'm sure). But I still feel alone. Mathew7:7-8 7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. Jeremiah 29 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I have been seeking, I have knocked, I have prayed, I have aksed, I deisre nothing more than to know God. But even after all this I still doubt. I still question. i know that my doubt has made me a more knowledgable person, but what good is knowledge without God's presence? Where is God; why am I not allowed to know Him; how long must i seek before I can find Him? |
Bible Answer: It is perhaps the most important question. God complained when his people did not ask it (Jeremiah 2:6,8) and he responded positively when Elisha asked it (2 Kings 2:14). It is his desire that we seek after him and find him (Acts 17:27). He asks directly that we seek him (Isaiah 55:6). We understand that the Lord is someone we will find when we seek him (as in Matthew 7:7). But you seem to need some more information, since you have been seeking and not finding. God says that you will find him only when you search for him with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). It is evident that some of us seek God while neglecting to deal with the question of sin. Sin is like a cloud (Isaiah 44:22) that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). God hides his face at the sight of sin (Deuteronomy 31, Ezekiel 39, etc.). But we cannot get rid of sin by ourselves. We need forgiveness. And we should know that in Jesus Christ we are offered forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38). Now, in regards to the steps you have taken is seeking God, you have mentioned reading the Bible, attending church, and baptism. Some churches place a strong emphasis on baptism, even suggesting that our sins are taken away in the water. They wrestle with passages like Acts 22:16 and 1 Peter 3:21 which seem to say or not say that. But in this case it seems clear that baptism did not take away sin, which is the thing that separates us from God. And why would baptism take away sin? What if the person has not repented? How could baptism take away sin if the person has not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? What we find is that a person draws nigh to God when he turns his back on sin (Isaiah 55:7). When he turns to God like that and he will have mercy upon him, and he will abundantly pardon him. This pardon is necessary in order for us to have fellowship with a holy God. And again, this pardon is possible because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. When we repent of sin and come to God through him. That is when we find him. There are many people in church who feel the way that you do, that they are seeking and not finding God. They may try then to create the feeling of nearness to God by being with the people of God and doing many things for God. One can hear them crying out with words such as “I’m desperate for you”. But God says he is not far from any one of us. But to find him we must come to hate sin, and we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism comes after that. Now, who among us will say that they found God in a pool of water? The statistics say that most people find him and get saved in a place other than church. We tend to find him in some quiet place, on our knees, with the help of one friend or family member who knows him, and sometimes alone. But it does seem, when you get to know God, that he leaves no doubt about it as he floods your life with his presence. In your place I would seek the Lord in his prescribed way. But those of us who know him must seek him yet, just to see him. “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple”. For protection: “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock”. He invites us to seek him. He says, “Seek ye my face”, and we accept. Our heart says, “Thy face, LORD, will I seek” (Psalm 27). For direction: He will show us the path of life. For the joy of it, because “in his presence is fullness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16). |